The alleged Xiaomi 17 Fold could debut a most unusual chipset

The new foldable by Xiaomi isn't confirmed, but it's no secret, either. There have been several rumors pointing at the possibility of getting another contestant in the 2026 foldable race.

This phone might be late, but the wait could be worth it.

An exotic chipset?

Xiaomi foldables aren't as popular as their slab phones right now. | Xiaomi

The alleged Xiaomi 17 Fold doesn't even have an official moniker attached. It could end up being named Xiaomi Mix Fold 5 or something like that… or something entirely different.

What's truly important, though, is that the latest rumors are speaking of the possibility of the phone utilizing a chipset called Xring O3.

It's home-made

As Xiaomi fans know, the Xring project is about Xiaomi's own in-house alternative to popular and beloved chips from Qualcomm or MediaTek.

Apple, Samsung (they use Snapdragon chips, but the in-house Exynos is going through a renaissance), Huawei and Google make their own chips, so it's only logical for Xiaomi to give it a try. The brand is getting more popular by the day.

But is it any good?

So far, there are no details about the eventual Xring O3 and its architecture or how it could compare to silicon by Qualcomm, but I'm expecting leaks to take off soon.

Not much is known about the potential Xiaomi 17 Fold, too, which is another thing I expect to change soon. The latest leaks say it's codenamed "Lhasa" in Xiaomi's database and there's a model number (2608BPX34C) attached to it, but that is of little value.

We still don't know a bit about its screens sizes, about the hinge, the battery and the build quality – all crucial in the foldable realm.

What else to expect from Xiaomi

If you're interested in large phones with huge batteries, but you don't want the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max's novel rear screen, the upcoming Xiaomi 17 Max should be on your radar.

This is a phone that could arrive with a flat 6.9-inch OLED display, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, up to 16 GB (LPDDR5x type) RAM and a ~8,000 mAh capacity battery cell.

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